Madeleine Robinson - born Madeleine Yvonne Svoboda, daughter of a Czeckoslovak pastrycook - made a remarkable 104 films in seven decades (1930s - 1990s) yet contrived to be virtually unknown in England, which is a great pity and England's loss. In common with most French females in the profession she was a beautiful lady who was also a fine actress and as such got to appear with prime leading men - Gerard Philippe, Pierre Brasseur, Eric von Strohein and, as here, Jean Gabin. Gabin himself made three films with director Georges Lacombe but after relocating to Hollywood in 1940 he fell out of favour with French audiences and went from the Top male star in the business to also- ran until he regained his crown with Jacques Becker's Touchez-pas au grisbi in 1954. Their Last Night dates from a tad earlier so although it is a fine effort it has suffered unjust neglect although now it is available on the excellent range of dvds my Rene Château it may gain recognition. Gabin is a milquetoast on the surface but underneath the facade really a leading gangster. He is able to secure a teaching post for Robinson, just up from the provinces and her sense of gratitude plus her growing affection for him leads her to help him when he goes on the run. Perhaps its most singular aspect is the fact that the two highly charismatic leads don't even kiss yet, as in Coward's Brief Encounter we are in no doubt of the chemistry between them. Ripe for rediscovery.
5 Reviews
The first half of the film is by far the best.
planktonrules18 August 2011
Warning: Spoilers
The idea for "Their Last Night" is excellent. A man (Jean Gabin) lives a very ordinary, if not dull, life. He's a librarian, lives in a rooming house and is friends to everyone around him. Everyone sees him as a kind man....and yet this is all a front. His real career is that of a gangster! Keeping this secret isn't easy--especially when a nice lady at the rooming house begins showing him some attention.
Later, he and his partners in crime are attempting another robbery and it is foiled by the police. Gabin says nothing to the police and just bides his time. Soon he and another prisoner are able to escape and he goes to the woman for help. Naturally, being a FILM, she helps him instead of rushing to the police. The second half of the film consists of him hiding and the lady, occasionally, surfacing to help him despite his protests.
While Gabin played in quite a few gangster films over the years, this one has to be the most unusual--or at least in the running! This unusual quality breathed a nice bit of life into the film--making it a truly interesting example of French Film Noir--at least in the first half. As for the second, it's a very standard sort of affair--a criminal hiding out from the police but nothing much more. I'd give the first half of the film an 8 and the second a 6--for an overall score of 7. It's very good but not among the better examples of the genre.
Later, he and his partners in crime are attempting another robbery and it is foiled by the police. Gabin says nothing to the police and just bides his time. Soon he and another prisoner are able to escape and he goes to the woman for help. Naturally, being a FILM, she helps him instead of rushing to the police. The second half of the film consists of him hiding and the lady, occasionally, surfacing to help him despite his protests.
While Gabin played in quite a few gangster films over the years, this one has to be the most unusual--or at least in the running! This unusual quality breathed a nice bit of life into the film--making it a truly interesting example of French Film Noir--at least in the first half. As for the second, it's a very standard sort of affair--a criminal hiding out from the police but nothing much more. I'd give the first half of the film an 8 and the second a 6--for an overall score of 7. It's very good but not among the better examples of the genre.
french film noir not too well known
happytrigger-64-39051714 August 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Leur Dernière Nuit is a rather good surprise in french film noir. Jean Gabin has a double life (like he did in Le Miroir in 1947 with a stunning end) : he is a respected librarian and a gangster.
He helps a young woman to find some work and she helps him back when he is in danger. Madeleine Robinson plays this woman and she's very touching.
Not a masterpiece but some scenes are very interesting (for lovers of old France like me). The director George Lacombe does some very fine job, and the next year, he directs La Lumière D'En Face with a very erotic and perverse Brigitte Bardot before Et Dieu Créa La Femme.
Leur Dernière Nuit prefigures Gabin's specialty in playing gangsters. Enjoy.
He helps a young woman to find some work and she helps him back when he is in danger. Madeleine Robinson plays this woman and she's very touching.
Not a masterpiece but some scenes are very interesting (for lovers of old France like me). The director George Lacombe does some very fine job, and the next year, he directs La Lumière D'En Face with a very erotic and perverse Brigitte Bardot before Et Dieu Créa La Femme.
Leur Dernière Nuit prefigures Gabin's specialty in playing gangsters. Enjoy.
Help me make it through the night.
dbdumonteil30 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
This is the story of two losers.We learn to know them little by little.
Pierre (Gabin) is a quiet man;he works in a library ,he's a well-respected man,he seems to know everyone and if you are searching for a job,he can be helpful.But he leads a double life.He is actually a gangster and he is up to something.
She (Madeleine Robinson) is an English teacher,he finds her a job.She is kind to her students ,she comes from the Provinces and she is a guest in a boarding house (those boarding houses were a permanent feature of the old French cinema.Nowadays they tend to disappear ,and not only from the screen)with Pierre.
One of Pierre's so called pals informs the Police and he becomes a hunted man.Madeleine helps him find places where he can hide.First,we do not really comprehend why she acts like this.In fact,she came to Paris because her past was too hard to bear (a failed bourgeois marriage,drugs).Pierre 's youth was poisoned by rich wealthy parents who wanted him to be a surgeon ;but an abortion led him to his downfall.
"Leur Dernière Nuit' can be depicted as Neo Realisme Poétique,with one difference: now the heroes are too old to sail away to the Islands in the Sun,as in "Quai des Brumes" .The last line is Madeleine Robinson's screaming Pierre's name ,as Michèle Morgan did fifteen years before.
Pierre (Gabin) is a quiet man;he works in a library ,he's a well-respected man,he seems to know everyone and if you are searching for a job,he can be helpful.But he leads a double life.He is actually a gangster and he is up to something.
She (Madeleine Robinson) is an English teacher,he finds her a job.She is kind to her students ,she comes from the Provinces and she is a guest in a boarding house (those boarding houses were a permanent feature of the old French cinema.Nowadays they tend to disappear ,and not only from the screen)with Pierre.
One of Pierre's so called pals informs the Police and he becomes a hunted man.Madeleine helps him find places where he can hide.First,we do not really comprehend why she acts like this.In fact,she came to Paris because her past was too hard to bear (a failed bourgeois marriage,drugs).Pierre 's youth was poisoned by rich wealthy parents who wanted him to be a surgeon ;but an abortion led him to his downfall.
"Leur Dernière Nuit' can be depicted as Neo Realisme Poétique,with one difference: now the heroes are too old to sail away to the Islands in the Sun,as in "Quai des Brumes" .The last line is Madeleine Robinson's screaming Pierre's name ,as Michèle Morgan did fifteen years before.
Good production values but implausible story
bob9985 May 2018
Well, I have now seen all three films Gabin made with Georges Lacombe, and can say that this is the weakest. It's made weak by a story that stretches credulity to breaking point. Someone should have pointed out that the trades of librarian and gangster require completely different skill sets, aptitudes that cannot be imported from one to another. I can believe Gabin as a tough guy--he played one in Touchez pas au grisbi, to name one among many--but never as a mousy librarian. Madeleine Robinson is an actress I never especially warmed to, but she is capable here. This may be avoided.
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